HERE WE COME to what is considered the most beautiful and at the same time the most effective use of the speaking voice. In song the beauty and power depend on the variation of notes in the musical scale, combined with arrangements of time, force and other qualities all of which are useful in the speaking tones as well.

Every departure from a monotonous tendency in speech is a relief to the listener; and when the changes suit the meanings of the thoughts, the effect is more than doubly attractive.

"MEANING OF MODULATION"

The word modulation in speech means variation in pitch, although it may be made to include change of force and time in utterance. But the chief and important meaning of modulation is variationin the pitch of the voice.

Most persons who try to give an offhand definition of pitch call it force. It has no relation to loudness or softness, or any of the uses of force, but applies wholly to range of voice, up or down, in the musical scale. Thus a tenor has a high pitch voice; andif he converses in the same general part of the scale that he usesin singing, he will talk in a high pitch. The bass singer generally talks in a low pitch. Those who sing in the middle partof the vocal range, or scale, talk in the middle pitch. It is proper to say that you pitch the voice high or low; but it is not proper to say that you pitch it loud or soft. In the roof of a house the pitch is the declivity or steepness, not the strength,

"TIRESOME VOICES"

Nature gave to every man and woman a two-octave speaking range, and even greater range than this can be cultivated, and is cultivated year after year by thousands. Yet most men and women use in conversation only a small part of one octave, and generally only one note. There are millions of one-note talkers in the world, and they wonder why they are not attractive in business or socially.

Even a beautiful voice that is used on one note, or on only a few, will tire. The human brain will not long endure peacefully the constant hammering at one kind of sound. The nerves rebel.

If you have a fine piano and strike one key all the time, how long will your neighbor put up with it? One refrain has drives people crazy. Not long ago a man rushed out of a house with a smoking revolver having killed a girl who was playing a few bars of a strain that she had caught and sought to fix. No mind is wholly sane and sound; and it is not difficult to make it lose its self-control. Nature steps in and relieves the brain from monotony by sleep in a majority of cases; and this accounts for the ease with which monotonous preachers will put a congregation into a state of slumber or close to it. But what can be said of the calling of the man who will thus fail in his great work?

All about you are one-note speakers, or one-note talkers, and they are failures. We have rescued many of them in the part twenty-five years, and we hope that these lessons will rescue millions more. The human voice has the greatest opportunity of all the faculties, and is the most used, but the worst used.

One note is the climax of monotony; but even two notes will not give relief. Nor will three or four. If nature provided fifteen or more, let them all be developed into actual use. Some singers who are able to exceed this range in song, talk in a monotonous pitch when they converse; showing that the mere possession of a large range is not enough.

"RANGE OF VOICE"

The term Range of Voice is well understood to refer to the compass or extent of pitch. This by some authors, is divided into registers, and called the Upper, Middle and Lower.

The Upper register is said to embrace the highest third of the vocal compass of a thoroughly developed voice.

The Middle register embraces the middle third.

The Lower register the lower third.

The highest third, sometimes called the head register, indiscriminately, is best represented by the vowel sound of E, as in the word meet.

The middle third, sometimes called the throat register, is best represented by the vowel sound of Ah, as A in father.

The lowest third, sometimes called the chest register, is best represented by the vowel sound of 0, as in roll.

These divisions may be mental ones, at least, and will some-what assist the pupil in practice.

The development of pitch is absolutely necessary to the singer, and to the reader or orator it is an exceedingly valuable acquisition. Many singing voices are developed by the exercise of this book, yet nothing of the technique of music is here attempted. A person may be ignorant of music and remain so, yet understand, perform, and master all these exercises. For speaking and reading it is not necessary to preserve minute distinctions of pitch or be musically exact.

"DEGREES OF PITCH"

Voices limited in range will not be able to make the divisions given in this exercise; but persistent practice will soon show great improvement. Those who understand music may make the nine pitches one whole note apart, if their vocal range admits of it; or a half note apart, if very limited in compass; or a note and a half apart if the range is comparatively extensive; or two whole notes apart, if possible.

Rule.—Arrange the pitches so that their range, from the very highest to the very lowest degrees, may be little greater than the ability of the voice to produce, and then work to produce them perfectly.

The Nine Degrees of Pitch

"MEANING OF PITCH"

Every part of the vocal range has a meaning of its own as will be seen in the following:

Quotations fob Practice in the Nine Degrees of Pitch

An extra No. 9 pitch may be made by crying "Boat ahoy," holding the last syllable as long as can be done easily, as "Boat, aho---------------y."

An extra No. 1 pitch may be made by pronouncing the word "Swear" in a deep, sepulchral tone, as described in the next exercise.

Incessant practice in the quotations will accomplish more in cultivating a wide and extended range than would seem possible. The Rule must be observed strictly.

"HOW TO PRACTICE"

Some years ago a prominent man came to us, having been pent by a famous teacher of singing; the purpose being to extend his range of voice. He could sing in about an octave and a half, and the teacher had exhausted every method to increase his range.

At the same time, a Congressman came to us who had almost no range at all; his voice being pitched on the note above the middle, and remaining there during his entire efforts at speaking. He was very tiresome, but his wealth had given him a term in Congress and he felt that it would not repeat for him.

To both these applicants for lessons, we gave the following rules of practice. The singer in the course of time acquired a full octave beyond that which he possessed when he began the exercises in range that are given here. The Congressman acquired a two-octave range, and was elected for sixteen years. He connected himself with our institution as a result of his interest in the good work being done.

The practice consists in speaking, not in singing, each quotation of the table in the preceding lesson.

Begin with the middle, or fifth quotation. Say the words, "A vision of beauty appeared on the clouds," in the easiest pitch in which you can speak, and make it conversational in style. Say this a number of times, always aloud, but not loudly.

If you have a piano or musical instrument nearby, find how many notes you have in your voice, and speak the above quotation in the note that is about midway between the highest and the lowest.

Then speak the next quotation below the fifth, which will be as follows: "Friends, Romans, countrymen!" This should be given in a rather serious vein, and the pitch should be close to the middle, but not quite up to it. Follow with the next quotation, "And this is in the night, most glorious night," giving the words in a pitch lower than the fourth. Then proceed to the lowest pitches in turn. After this, repeat the fifth, "A vision of beauty appeared on the clouds," in the middle part of your range, and then take the sixth, and so on up to the top or last one, which is the ninth.

It is first necessary to establish the nine degrees of range then to extend them gradually as practice gives you great security in the production of them.

"THE LOW NOTES"

The higher the pitch rises, the more vibrations there are in a second of time. These occur at the vocal cords. The lower the voice descends, the fewer are the vibrations. These relieve the ear and brain of the listener; for which reason the magnetic tones are more often effective in the low notes than in the high ones.

After acquiring the number one pitch of the table of range as given in these lessons, try to drop below that by speaking the word "oh" and then the word "swear" in a still lower note. These words suit the effort. Imagine the throat to be a very deep well and in that well utter the word "awe" very solemnly a number of times, trying to get it lower each time. All three words help, but some voices respond better to one word than to another.

The Convenient Low Note

In the low register of the voice there are some notes that are weak, especially the extremely low ones.

Constant practice on the lowest note of the voice that can be made easily will soon result in the next note below it acquiring strength and fullness by sympathy owing to its proximity to the note that is being used so much.

The note next below, then, will be the "convenient low note." This should receive the attention of the pupil just as soon as it is full and strong. Remember to wait until the fullness has come to it through sympathy, not to force it.

When the new "convenient low note" has been practiced for months as its predecessor was, it in turn, by sympathy, will cause strength and fullness to creep into the note next below and so on down the scale the voice will extend itself in range.